Who Are We?
by WeekendScribe
Summary: One simple question. Ryu Soma or Takuto Kaneshiro?


**Author's Note:** I have not the slightest idea why I wrote this. But enjoy.**  
**

**Disclaimer:** I do **not** own anything. All rights to Argento Soma are copyrighted by Sunrise Studio and TV Tokyo, along with if and any affiliates or subsidiary companies. Nor do I own any rights or privileges to the song lyrics that accompany this work. Those belong to the band "Assemblage 23", titled, "Damaged". All material belongs with the release of the publicized album "Meta".

* * *

_"Takuto…"  
_

_"Takuto…"_

A soft voice, a familiar voice, echoed around him, within him.

_"Takuto…"_

The voice grew louder and higher, and changed.

"_Ryu…"_

_"Takuto…"_

His body twitched and writhed against the sheets that he lay upon, twisting and bucking against the bed, the covering material falling to the floor as he kicked out, his hand shooting into the air, fingers clenching, as if to grasp something out of reach.

"Maki…"

_I am merely the product,_

_of the life that I've lived._

_An amalgam of sorrows,_

_And the wisdom they give._

Ryu Soma's voice fell quietly around the room he lay asleep in, echoing off the walls, as the voice in his dream echoed louder.

_"Takuto… Ryu…"_

Takuto Kaneshiro woke with a start, a cry on his lips, yet never passing as his hand still hung, limp in the air. He licked his dry, chapped lips.

_But the weight has grown heavy,_

_and it's dragging me down._

_It's so hard not to sink now._

_But I don't want to drown._

"Maki…" The soft whisper seem to shatter the air the sweat-drenched man was inhaling.

His voiced choked.

"Maki... Help me…"

_I'm damaged._

_But somehow I've managed._

_This far._

_But I don't know if I can find my way back home._

_I'm damaged._

_But somehow I've managed._

_For now._

_But I don't think I can face this on my own._

Ryu slowly ran his fingers up and down his scarred arms, remnants of a time when he thought life was at a best, whole, ready to be explored, only to shatter, literally, before his eyes as Takuto Kaneshiro.

The youth drew his legs up, his arms encircling them as he cradled himself, his sheets still forgotten on the floor next to the bed.

"Maki… I'm sorry… I couldn't save you." Takuto spoke to the air, willing his voice to reach behind this world and into the next where the woman he had loved with everything he had been now resided. Maki Agata.

_There is beauty in hardship._

_There are poems in grief._

_There are trials we must go through._

_Thought they shake our beliefs._

His eyes grew hot, his hands absently reaching up to rub them and coming away warm and wet.

Tears.

_But I don't know how I got here._

_Lost in the cynical dusk._

_Set in adrift in sorrow._

_That I've no one to trust._

He thought he had had none left, he had thought wrong.

Ryu gripped the bed covering with his hands, squeezing the material between his fingers as his hands clenched into balled fists, the tears flowing freely and unchecked down his face, falling from his chin.

"Maki, I need you. Please…" Ryu's voice begged softly in the darkness, his body trembling as a wave of new tears assaulted his features.

"I don't know who I am anymore." Takuto murmured, a great shudder wracking his body as his skin seem to ignite in flame, his body burning feverishly.

"You said we'd be there for each other." Ryu croaked, his voice rising.

"You lied! You lied to me Maki!" Takuto screamed suddenly, slamming his fists into his bed.

"Where are you now, when I need you the most?"

Sobs shook Ryu Soma's body as he laid back on the bed, lifting his sheets from the floor and covering his body, his eyes closing as his lips still moved.

"Lied Maki. You lied…" His voice drifted slowly as his body and mind sunk into unconsciousness.

A sharp ringing woke Takuto as he jerked wildly from his bed, his eyes wide before his stance relaxed, reaching over and picking up the bedside phone.

_I'm damaged._

_But somehow I've managed._

_This far._

_But I don't know if I can find my way back home._

_I'm damaged._

_But somehow I've managed._

_For now._

_But I don't think I can face this on my own._

"Hello?" His voice rasped.

"Hello?" The voice over the phone echoed, high and joyous. Sue Harris.

"What do you need, Sue?" The cracked voice issued forth.

"Who is this?" Sue asked hesitantly.

A pause.

"Ryu Soma."

Another pause, before continuing.

"What other number do you think you dialed?"

"Oh." Sue's voice rang.

"Sorry, you sound different this morning. I'm just calling to let you know Ines wants to speak with you when you come in later this afternoon for report." She stated.

"Fine."

A faint click echoed in Sue's ear, and then a dial tone.

With a firm hand, Ryu Soma, formerly Takuto Kaneshiro placed the phone back on the receiver.


End file.
